Eduardo Rodriguez To Make At Least One More Rehab Start For PawSox

BOSTON (CBS) — The game of musical chairs in the Red Sox rotation will have to wait another week.

Lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez will make at least one more rehab start with Triple-A Pawtucket, Red Sox manager John Farrell announced following Boston’s 14-7 win over the Athletics on Monday night. Rodriguez will start Friday night against Gwinnett at McCoy Stadium.

“We feel like he’s making steady progress,” said Farrell. “Feel like he’s still building arm strength, and not to say that there’s a specific number in terms of velocity that we need to see, but he’s still building. [We] want to continue that progression before he gets back to us.”

Farrell hinted that Rodriguez could make more than one more start for the PawSox. The 23-year-old southpaw is eligible to remain in the minors until May 27, and sounded on board with the plan on Monday night.

“It’s good to throw another one, to finish with everything and fix all the pitches, my mechanics and everything,” said Rodriguez. “That’s good. I’ll take it. It feels good now, but I want to throw another one to feel 100 percent ready.”

Rodriguez was sidelined throughout Boston’s spring slate of games with a knee injury, and has gone 0-2 with a 4.70 ERA over three starts for Pawtucket. He’s been tagged for 17 hits and nine runs (eight earned) over 17.1 innings, striking out seven while issuing four free passes.

So for now, Farrell can go forward with the rotation currently set in place (with Sean O’Sullivan set to start Tuesday in Rodriguez’s potential spot), but it could get complicated in the near future.